ARCHIVED – Formative Evaluation of the Pre–Removal Risk Assessment Program
5.0 Overall Conclusions
IRPA provides that, with certain exceptions, persons in Canada may apply for protection if they are subject to an enforceable removal order. PRRA is the mechanism provided for the assessment of such applications. Any person awaiting removal from Canada who alleges risk will not be removed prior to a risk assessment.
Program Relevance
- The PRRA program is consistent with Government of Canada and CIC objectives with respect to offering protection to those in need, and fulfills Canada’s international obligations under several conventions and agreements.
- There is a need for a program to provide an assessment of risk prior to removal (as evidenced by the 816 positive PRRA decisions), however, the PRRA program is not providing an efficient response to this need. In effect, it has shifted from the original intent of being a ‘safety-net’ to become an additional step in the refugee status determination process:
- In 2006, 78 percent of all eligible individuals submitted a PRRA application.
- Nine percent of all applications came from 89 countries for which there has been a zero rate of acceptance and over half the applications come from countries with an acceptance rate of less than 1 percent.
Program Design and Delivery
- Common tools have been provided to ensure consistency with the application of PRRA policies and procedures, and are being consistently used. However, there was some variation with respect to how offices prioritize or sort their cases and to how H&C w/risk cases are handled.
- Often informal and irregular communication between CIC and CBSA at the NHQ level was cited by respondents as contributing to challenges in planning and managing the PRRA workload effectively, particularly in the Ontario region, where CBSA increased removals targets for this area but the CIC did not increase the PRRA resources allocated to its Mississauga office.
- There is a need for improved communication and coordination between PRRA offices and NHQ, with NHQ taking a more proactive role in facilitating information sharing and centralizing information resources (e.g., best practices, important case decisions, etc).
Program Integrity
- Program integrity has been sound, as measured by the Crown success in defending challenges to PRRA decisions (85 percent success rate) and as demonstrated by the results of the QA assessment.
- Between 2003 and 2006 the time required to process a case increased from 125 to 202 days. Some offices have seen larger increases than others.
- Between 2003 and 2006, there has been a 59 percent increase in the number of cases in inventory, although 65 percent of those cases are less than six months old.
- The major increases took place in three of the six PRRA offices (Quebec, Niagara Falls, and Mississauga), while the Mississauga office accounted for 49 percent of the year-end inventory in 2006.
- These two factors increase an applicant’s time in Canada, contributing to delays in removal.
- While program data is extensive and a limited number of pre-defined tables are available, significant manipulation is required to obtain a full set of information to support on-going monitoring and analysis. There is a need for improved accessibility to the data and/or additional pre-defined reports.
Program Results
- While the resources dedicated to PRRA have increased, program uptake has risen steadily, inventories have grown and processing times increased.
- The PRRA program is a factor in the increasing time lapse between the rendering of a negative IRB decision (removal order becomes effective) and removal from Canada (confirmed departure), which has increased from approximately 437 days pre-2002 to about 611 days post-2002.
Cost-Effectiveness
- Additional FTEs have been allocated to PRRA offices that have had high application volumes, however, two offices (Mississauga and Niagara Falls) still receive high volumes of applications relative to FTEs.
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